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Sonata Arctica
Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. They often include symphonic metal elements, and their later releases contain several elements typical of progressive metal. The line-up consists of singer, keyboardist and songwriter Tony Kakko, guitarist Elias Viljanen, bass guitarist Pasi Kauppinen, keyboardist and keytarist Henrik Klingenberg, and drummer Tommy Portimo since August 2013. All the musicians of the band's history except Portimo (and possibly new bassist Kauppinen) also acted as backing vocalists. Sonata Arctica originally created as a hard rock band, known as Tricky Beans in late 1995 by Portimo and guitarists Jani Liimatainen and Marko Paasikoski. The line-up was completed in early 1996 with the addition of Kakko on vocals and keyboards and Pentti Peura on bass. After changing their name to Tricky Means the following year, they released three unsuccessful hard rock demos. After the departures of Paasikoski and Peura, the band decided to continue with only one guitarist and replaced Peura with Janne Kivilahti, before changing their name to Sonata Arctica in 1999 and turning into a metal band. The release of the demo FullMoon led to the release of the band's first full-length album, Ecliptica (1999). 2000 saw various line-up changes: Kivilahti left the band and was replaced on bass by a returning Paasikoski, and Kakko was replaced on keyboards by Mikko Härkin to focus on the singing. However after the release of Silence in 2001, Härkin left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Klingenberg (who also plays keytar). Under this line-up, Sonata Arctica released the successful albums Winterheart's Guild (2003), Reckoning Night (2004) and Unia (2007). However soon after the release of Unia, Liimatainen was sent to prison for failure to do his mandatory civil/military service. He was temporarily replaced by Elias Viljanen, who became the band's full time guitarist when Liimatainen and the band, despite being on good terms, decided together that he would not return. This line-up of Sonata Arctica's became the longest-running in the band's history and was stable between 2007 and 2013; however Kakko decided in 2007 to play keyboards again, in addition to Klingenberg. Under this line-up, they have released two albums: The Days of Grays (2009) and Stones Grow Her Name (2012). In 2013, founding member and bassist Marko Paasikoski departed and was replaced with Kauppinen. Members ;Current members * Tommy Portimo – drums (1995−present) * Tony Kakko – lead vocals (1996−present), keyboards (1996–2000, studio only: 2007–present) * Henrik Klingenberg - keyboards, keytar, backing vocals (2002−present) * Elias Viljanen - guitars, backing vocals (2007−present) * Pasi Kauppinen - bass (2013–present) ;Former members * Marko Paasikoski – guitars (1995-1997), bass (2000-2013), backing vocals (1995-1997, 2000-2013) * Jani Liimatainen – guitars, backing vocals (1995-2007) * Pentti Peura – bass, backing vocals (1996-1998) * Janne Kivilahti – bass, backing vocals (1998-2000) * Mikko Härkin – keyboards, backing vocals (2000-2002) ;Guest musicians * Nik Van-Eckmann − spoken passages (2001, 2004) * Timo Kotipelto − vocals (2001, 2012) * Jens Johansson − keyboard solos (2003) * Peter Engberg − acoustic guitars, bouzouki, viola caipira, banjo, chromaharp, cavaquinho, Q-chord (2007, 2012) * Johanna Kurkela − female vocals (2009) * Pekka Kuusisto - violin (2012) * Lauri Valkonen - double bass (2012) Discography Studio albums: *''Ecliptica'' (1999) *''Silence'' (2001) *''Winterheart's Guild'' (2003) *''Reckoning Night'' (2004) *''Unia'' (2007) *''The Days of Grays'' (2009) *''Stones Grow Her Name'' (2012) *''Pariah's Child'' (2014)http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=1&l=uk&nid=261&n_xID=261&ntop=0 Live Albums *''Songs of Silence'' (2002) *''Live In Finland'' (2011) Compilations *''The End of this Chapter'' (2005) Singles *''Unopened'' (1999) References External links *Official Website *Official Facebook page *Official Myspace page Category:Finnish bands Category:Finnish symphoic metal bands Category:Finnish power metal bands Category:Symphonic metal bands Category:Power metal bands